Chapter 3
'Succession'
'The City of Akathgethor, 24th Slate, 36'
'The Den of Thieves'
Vabok Ancientangel's funeral was thinly attended. Only his family; a pair of old, evil-looking kobolds and a very ugly, even by dwarf standards, dwarf,: attended. Everyone else simply said their condolences and celeberated in their own homes; Vabok had been an idiot to everyone, not just to Asmel. However, what Melbedil , the chief doctor in the Thief's Den,and her helpers could not figure out is how Vabok had been burnt so badly as to kill him. The only other person to have seen Vabok killed had been Asmel, the metalsmith, and while he had fire imp ancestry, which only three people in the entire Den knew and believed (Asmel, Urist the kobold thief, and Melbedil), this did not mean he could throw fire. Fire imps could only throw fire because it surrounded them, but as far as they could see, no fire surrounded Asmel.
Asmel was sitting in his bed. He felt a mixture of emotions at killing Vabok. Jubiliation, since he had killed the person who half the Den hated, and who had broken his beautiful creation, pride at having such a power, fear that he could hurt someone with it, and guilt at having killed Vabok. He was a living person, idiotic and arrogant though he was, and so Asmel felt some guilt at having killed him. He looked at his hand, which had a fireball in it. He hurled it at the wall, which left nothing but a scorch mark where it landed. 'What in Asmel's name is this power?' Asmel asked himself. It may had had something to do with his fire imp father: they could throw fire, but then again, Asmel was a unique being. Nobody had ever seen a half-breed before. Not even in the long histories of the Mountainhomes, nor in any other land had a half-breed been seen, at least not that Asmel knew of. He went to see Melbedil.
Melbedil was in her study, wracking her brain over what could have killed Vabok. Nothing she could think of fit in: Asmel had told her that he and Vabok were the only people in the room, and the fire imps were all being trained in the danger room. IT made no sense, but one of the fire imps had had to have done it. She thought, 'Can't blame 'em. Vabok was an arrogant bastard, no mistake.' She knew what she was saying: Vabok had flirted with her many times, unsucessfully. Asmel walked into the room. 'Good afternoon, Dr.Whispertrades,' he said. It was a sign of respect in the den to refer to someone as either Mr. or Ms. or Mrs. if they were only common thieves, Master or Mistress if they were elites or Dr. if they were healers.
'Asmel, you don't have to call me Doctor. You know we've been friends a long time, you can call me Melbedil.', she responded. 'Not when I need to ask you something important to a certain case,' Asmel countered, and Melbedil knew what he was talking about. 'How do you think Vabok was killed?' she asked. 'Well, my theory is he was burnt by a stray coal,' he answered. 'A stray coal wouldn't be that big,' she responded, curious. Asmel knew that well enough, why would he be saying that?
'Well...' ,he stopped. 'Asmel, I know your father was a fire imp, but that doesn't mean they're all decent. After all, we live in a den of thieves, murderers, beggars and assasins.'
Asmel was about to ask Melbedil about his ability when one of her helpers came in.
'Dr. Whispertrades, the Forges are on fire! We need everyone we can get, now!'
)